When Michelle Danforth (Oneida) set out to begin her career, creating films was a distant aspiration. After graduating with an MBA focused on accounting, Danforth began working at Options for Independent Living, a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities. Although she enjoyed marketing and finance, there was always a lingering interest in producing and creating films. Read More... about Michelle Danforth (2008)

Twenty years ago Courtney Hermann saw something she absolutely needed. When electronic stores released the first VHS recorders the then 15-year old Hermann for some reason knew she couldn’t live without one. Too young to afford this new technology, the teenager turned to her parents.

“It might be the only thing that I ever really, truly, begged for,” says Hermann.

George Burdeau doesn’t just make films; he makes films with a purpose. For over 40 years Burdeau has been creating films that portray Native American life from a realistic point of view. These films have improved awareness and knowledge of true Native culture.

Burdeau got his start while studying to be a painter at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was during this time he noticed a disturbing trend in Native American films. Read More... about George Burdeau

Beverly Morris has dedicated much of her 18 years of broadcasting to developing young media makers as the project director of the Institute of American Indian Arts’ summer television and film workshop in Santa Fe, NM.

During the project’s first three years it has extended opportunities to many young broadcasters they otherwise would never have had. Read More... about Beverly Morris